9/11 20 year anniversary

Saturday this weekend marked the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 in the US. Of course, because of time zones it was Wednesday 12th September here in New Zealand when it happened, just after midnight.

Memories are interesting things. I can call the exact place I was when I heard the news - driving to work just after 7am in Auckland. (I can also recall the exact place I was when I heard the news about the death of Princess Diana.)

9/11 conspiracy theories have abounded and were primarily promoted by the alt-right, many centered around how the buildings could not possibly have collapsed as they did without a controlled demolition, or explosives. Conspiracy theorists confidently displayed the Dunning/Kruger effect in their pronouncements on the topic.

It's always been a good topic for skeptics to examine, and it certainly sheds light on how people think about such extremely out of the ordinary events.

For an actual explanation on how the buildings collapsed, The Conversation did a good explainer.